Automatic oil-burner-control apparatus



July 6,1926.1 1,591,461

' E. C. WILLS AUTOMATIC OIL BURNER CONTROL APPARATUS ATTORNEYS.

July 6 1926. 1,591,461

E. c. wlLLs Filed March 19, 1925 2 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Puente! July s, 192s.

UNITEDISTATES EDWIN COOPER 711.138,l F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

AUTOHATIC'- OILfBUBNER-CONTROL APPARATUS.

Application Med lai-ch -19, 1925. Serial No. 16,782.

My resent invention relates generally to fuel oil burners, and more-particularlyl to systems, for instance housing systems, w ere l furnaces are heated by fuel oil burners and it is desired to automatically control such burners so that they will be ignited and operated when the temperature falls below a predetermined point and will be cutoff when the temperature rises aboveanother predetermined point, and my object is the provision of an attachment to the ordinary damper controlling system whereby it may be ap lied to the ignition, operation andcontro of the burner so that the latter will automatically ignite, operate and cut olf under thermostatic influence.

vIt is a well known fact that various damper control systems are now utilized embodying intermittently actuated motor controlled means including a shaft, the latter connected to the dampers by virtue of slotted crank arms upon the ends of the shaft connected by chains to the dampers to y be controlled. In such systems, thecontrol shaft is motor operated and so controlled that upon each motor operation the'shaft is turned through 180 degrees or in other words given a haltl revolution. The actuation of the motor is in turn controlled by thermo- 4stat-ic means so that upon the fall of temperature below a predetermined point the motor will be actuated and the shaft partly rotated and also upon the rise of temperature toa predetermined point the motor will be actuated and the shaft again partly rotated.

When adapting such system t0. the auto.

matic control 'of a fuel oil burner utilizing Ain its emplo ment motor actuated oil and air pumps, t e usual crank arms of the intermittentl rotating control shaft are removed an this nature which wi be positive and eifec` Il tive in action as well as inexpensive both in .A,firstcostandinuse.Vy

-less diag I I substitute therefore one or more contact wheels controlling independent- In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate my present invention and form a `part of this specification Figure 1 is aperspective view more or ammatic showing4 the complete systemwit I the exception of the thermostat;

' Figure 2 is a side view of the motor actuated control unit shown in Figure 1;

lFigure 3 is a similar view illustrating a slightly modified form of the attachment as applied to the motor control unit;

Figu certain of the parts of the motor lcontrol unit with my invention applied thereto, and

Figure 5 is a diagram of the entire s stem.

Referring now to these figures anl particularly to Figures 1 to 5, inclusive, I have 'shown in'Figure 1 a furnace 10 into which a fuel 'oil burner indicated generallyat 11" is extended. 'lhislburnermay be of the re 4 is a detail perspective view ofl type as shown for instance in my Patents l Numbers 1,493,584 and 1,510,639, respectively-dated May 14, 1924, and October 8th, A1924, and may as shown be provided within the furnace with a silencer as for instance shown' in my appllication Serial Number 3,116, which wa-s ed iin the United States lPatent Oliice January 17th, 1925.-

Adjacent to the lower discharge end of the silencer, the latter 44of'wliich is vindicated at 12 in Figure 2, there .is supported in any suitable mannera spark plug 13 whose pur# To the burner 11 oil and .air supply pipes 1 16 and 17, respectively, lead from oil and air pumps 18l and 19, the former of which has an oil suppl pipe 20 which may extend from any suitabl7 instance a buried tank such as commonly employed for'this purpose.

The oil and air pumps 18 and 19 are simultaneously actuated by a motor 2 1 and the esource of oil supply as for actuating circuit of this motor includes wires In carrying-outmyinvention I may, as-

shown,em lo Athe well known system of the Minneapolis' eat Regulator Co. lordinarily shown certain 'parts of this system in Figure 5 including the thermostat, generally indicated at 24, from-'which wires 25, 26 and 27 lead down to the binding poets 28, 29 and 30 used for the purpose of mechanically con- ,trollingl the furnace dampers, and I have of a control unit or box 31 having mounted therethrough the usual control shaft 32 and having therein a shaft actuating motor 33 shown in Figure 4 as well as certain other parts to be presently described and also having as usual a transformer' (not shown) to which themain line or 110 volt leads 34 and 35 are connected. The line voltage is reduced in the transformer in practice to approximately 8 voltswhich I tapped ofil to the motor, and throughcthe latter to the binding posts 28, 29 and 30, and wires 14 and 15 forming the spark plug circuit may be takenfrom the Wires 25 and 27 as clearly shown in both Figures 1 and 5 assuming it is desired to use but 8 volts at the spark plug. On the other hand the wires 22 and 23 forming the motor actuating circuit may be taken from the line or injother words from the main line leads 34 and 35 as also shown in Figures 1 and 5.

As indicated in Figure 4, the motor 33 within the control unit or box 31 is in the Minnea olis system above referred` to geared t rough .reducing gears 36 to the control shaft 32 and the latter is controlled in lts rotation to a half revolution each -time the motor circuit is completed at the thermostat 24, by virtue of means including a notchedl disk 37 on the shaft 32 with which a. latch member 38 coacts,the disk 37 having its notches diametrically opposed and the latch member 36 bein in practice 'electromagnetically controlle in such manner that at each actuation it 'is raised and then immediately lowered for engagement with the next or diametrically opposlte notch of the shaft during the rotation of the latter. l

As before stated, in the ordinary use of the control unit or box 31 in the Minneapolis system for the mechanical control of furnace dampers the control shaft 32 has'upon its opposite ends slotted crank arms (not shown) but in the present instance in order to adapt the same to the attachments proposed by-my invention, these crank arms are removed and in their place my invention proposes contact wheels 39 and 40 according to Figures 1, 2, 4 and 5, the latter of which cooperate with the spaced contacts 41 and 42, the contacts 41 engaging the periphery of wheel 39 at spaced points and the contacts 42 similarly engaging the perpheryrof wheel 40 at spaced points. The .contacts 41 are furthermore connected within the wire.15 of the spark control circuit while the contacts 42 are connected within the wire 22 of the motor circuit, the spaces between4 these contacts 41 and between the contacts 42 nor- -mally constituting gaps in the circuits so that the latter A'are only complete when the wheels '39 and 40 are turned to such position that their peripheral contact plates 43 and 44, re-` spectively, bridge the spaced contacts 41 and 42.

As between the twok contact wheels 39 and 40, the peripheral contact strip 44.0f wheel4 contact strip 43 has at that time completelyv passed the contact members 41 or at least passed one of them.

'In its action the shaft 32 rotates in the direction ofthe arrow in Figure 4 and consequently the contact wheels 39 and 40 valso rotate in the direction of the arrows thereon, the position of the parts shown in Figure 4 being that occupied by these parts after operative movement of the shaft 32 to turn on the burner occasioned by a fall of temperature below the set temperature of thevth'ermostat which has completed a circuit through the motor sulicient to rotate shaft 32 through a half revolution. During this movement the contact strips 43 and 44 have bridged the contact members 41 and 42 whereupon motor 21 has been placed in operation to bring about pumping of oil and air to the burner 11 and a circuit has been developed at'the spark plug 13 resulting in ignition of the burner.l It will be noted that except for the contact plates 43 and 44 the peripheries of the contact .wheels 39 and 40 are covered with non-conducting material at 45 and that while the circuit through the pump actuating 'motor- 21 remains closed with the parts in the position shown in Figures l and 4,. the circuit through the s ark plug 13 has been brokenby virtue o the passage of the contact plate 43 past the contact members 41.

As shown in Figure 1, the contact members 41 and 42 are preferably in the nature of spring actuated carbons in carbon holders, the latter disposed upon 'brackets 46 adjustably mounted upon the ends of a supporting bar 47 which is extended across and secured to the lower portion ofthe control unit or box 31.

With the parts in the position shown in Figure 4 thev burner is in operation and the heat commences to rise and as soon as it reaches the setftemperature of the thermostat, the circuit through motor 33 is again completed and the control shaft 32 is revolved through 180 degrees, whereupon the contact wheels 39 and 40. are similarly rotated so that the contact plates 43 and 44 are shifted to positions diametrically opposite to the positions shown in Figure 4. Thus the contact plates 43 and 44 are the contact members 41 and 42 and the circuit throu h the pump actuating motor 21 is thus bro en as well as the circuit through the spark plug 13.

both free of Q25 As shown 1 n Figure 3 my improvements 13 '40 f the .said spark plug vand each' including are capable of modification to the extent of p using but a single contact wheel L)f8/upon one end of the control shaft 49, the stationary contacts 41IL and 42* being mounted adjacent 'to one another and controlled by a single elongated contact plate 50 upon the non conducting peripheral strip l of the wheel. The wheel 48 in this modified form of the invention-is so adjusted that in its operative movement to turn on the burner, strip 50 moves across the contact members 41'l and 42 and comesto rest after its trailing end has passed the contact members 41n or at least one of them, whereby the circuit through the spark plug is completed and then broken and the circuit through the pump controlling motor'is made'and maintained until the next eifective movement of the control shaft.

1f In a burner control apparatus including oil and air pumps, a m'otor for actuating said pumps and a spark plug `for igniting a f burner, the combination with a therniostaticall controlled unit having a controlling shalt intermittently movable in half turns, of meansv forming' independent -circuits through the saidactuating motor and the said spark plug and each including spaced contact members, and means rotating with the saidcontrol shaft' for bridging the said contacts.

2. In a burner control apparatus includ-- ing oil and vail-pumps, av motor for actuating said ,pumpsand aspark plug for igl'uiting a burner, the combinationwith a t erf mostatically controlled unit havin a con-V trolling shaft intermittently movab e in half turns, of means forming independent circuits through the .said actuating motor and i spaced lcontact members, and means rotating with'the said control shaft and arranged toV bridge and pass the contact members of the spark plug and to bridge and remain in lapping relation over the contacts of the motor circuit, wherebghc motor will be continued in opgati'on a r action of the spark plug has n completed.

3. In a burner control apparatus includiiig oil and air pumps, a motor for actuating said pumps and a spark plug for igniting a burner, the combination with a thermostat.

ically controlled unit havinga controlling shaft intermittently movable in half turns, of means forming independent circuits through thesad actuating motor and the burner, the combination with a thermostatically controlled unit having a controlling shaft intermittently movable in half turns, of means forming independent circuits through the said actuatingA motor and the said spark plug and each including spaced contact members adjacent opposite ends of.

said control shaft, and contact wheels secured upon said shaft ends having noliconducting peripheries in engagement with said contact members, and contact strips on said peripheries to bridge the said contact members, the contact Strip controlling the motor circuit being of substantially ater length than the contact strip controlling the spark plug circuit.

5. In combination withv a control box, a

control shaft therein, and' thermostatically controlled means for intermittently moving said shaft in half revolutions, of a support` ing bar attached to the box, brackets on said bar, a pair of spaced contact members car'- ried by each bracket, and contactwheels on the shaft ends, each wheel having a non conducting peripheral portion in engagement with a pair of said contact members and having a contact plate thereon adapted to bridge the contact' members in one position.- u 'Y 6. In combination with a control box, a

control shaft therein, and thermostatically controlled means for intermittentlymoving said shaft iii half revolutions, of a supporting bar 'attached' to the'box, brackets on said bar, apair of spaced contactvmembers carried by each bracket, and contact wheelsA on the shaft ends,- each wheel having a'nonconducting peripheral portion in y engagement with a pair of said contact members and having a contact plate thereon adapted to bridge the contact members in one posi tion, the contact plate of one wheel being of substantially greater length than'the contact plate of the other wheel.

EDWIN'COOPER WILLS; 

